Symposium 2005:

History and Memory:
Present Reflections on the Past to Build Our Future

Free showing for the public at the Cineteatro (House 2)
of three documentary films never screened before in Macao

All films will be introduced by the filmmakers
All seats allocated on a “first come, first served” basis
Attendance is free of charge

Wednesday 30th November, 9:30 PM

From Nuremberg to Nuremberg, by Frédéric Rossif and Philippe Meyer
Participation in Macao : Philippe Meyer
Date: 1988    Length: 180 mn    Language: French    Subtitle: French

Summary: Delving into the intense subject matter of the Second World War and Nazi Germany, the series starts as a stark political enquiry but later builds up to boldly display the terrible and unrelenting truth of the nazis' worst actions. A key reference on the period, it is considered the best attempt at having “neutral images” that speak for themselves.

Thursday 1st December, 9:30 PM

Morning Sun by Carma Hinton, Geremie Barmé and R. Gordon
Participation in Macao : Carma Hinton
Date: 2003    Length: 117 mn    Languages: English    Subtitles: Chinese/English

Summary: The film Morning Sun attempts in the space of a two-hour documentary film to create an inner history of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (c.1964-1976). It provides a multi-perspective view of a tumultuous period as seen through the eyes—and reflected in the hearts and minds—of members of the high-school generation that was born around the time of the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, and that came of age in the 1960s. Others join them in creating in the film's conversation about the period and the psycho-emotional topography of high-Maoist China , as well as the enduring legacy of that period.

Friday 2nd December, 9:30 PM

S-21, by Rithy Panh
Participation in Macao : Sylvie Rollet
Date: 2002    Length: 101 mn    Language: Khmer    Subtitles: French

Summary: In 1975-79, the Khmer Rouge waged a campaign of genocide on Cambodia 's population. 1.7 million Cambodians lost their lives to famine and murder as the urban population was forced into the countryside to fulfill the Khmer Rouges' dream of an agrarian utopia. In S21 , Panh brings two survivors back to the notorious Tuol Sleng prison (code-named "S21"), now a genocide museum where former Khmer Rouge is employed as guides. Painter Vann Nath confronts his former captors in the converted schoolhouse where he was tortured, though by chance he did not suffer the fate of most of the other 17,000 men, women and children who were taken there, their "crimes" meticulously documented to justify their execution. The ex-Khmer Rouge guards respond to Nath's provocations with excuses, chilling stoicism or apparent remorse as they recount the atrocities they committed at ages as young as 12 years old. To escape torture, the prisoners would confess to anything, and often denounce everyone they knew - though their final sentence was never in doubt.